As a career and executive coach, I’ve heard from thousands of professionals over the past 13 years about their biggest career regrets, and how these regrets have negatively (and heartbreakingly) impacted their lives.

I know too from personal experience how crushing it feels to make serious mistakes and detours in our professional lives, and how challenging it can be to recover from these mistakes so that we can move forward in a positive, hopeful way.

While I have developed my own hypotheses about the key differences between the way in which men and women perceive the regrets of their careers, it’s eye-opening to review new statistical data on this issue. Recently I had the opportunity to do just that.

I was intrigued when Zety – an online resume builder and career site – reached out to share the results of their latest research on Americans’ biggest career regrets. As I expected, there are indeed statistically significant differences between men’s and women’s career regrets and the types of risks they take.

Zety’s stated mission for this study was “to explore the effects of our career choices, how those choices impact our lives, and how we feel about the results. Each of our careers speaks volumes about who we are and what we value, but what we wish we had done says just as much.”

Zety strives to improve the way people look for jobs by providing candidates with job offers that will closely match their needs and requirements. And their site is supported by some top career experts and a community of 40 million readers each year

To recap, the top career regrets among all those studied (professional men and women who were in the workforce for at least three years) are:

Top 10 Career Regrets

Courtesy of Zety

Some key findings:

Over 98% of people have regrets about their career, with the most common regrets being not taking more initiative, not having enough mentorship and playing it safe

The top risks people wish they’d taken are pursuing a passion (28%), negotiating a higher salary (26%) and negotiating for a raise (24%)

88% of people who followed their passion were glad they did, and 77% of those who choose that path ended up at a job they loved

The good news -- it’s never too late: 53% of people say it’s never too late to make a career change, with millennials (80%) being most likely to say it’s not too late

Top three career regrets – men vs. women

In looking at career regrets of men versus women, we see that there are significant differences.

The top regrets by gender are:

Women

Not having enough mentorship or guidance

Not taking more initiative

Playing it safe. Not taking more chances

Not negotiating hard enough for raises

Not quitting a job I disliked sooner

Men

Not taking more initiative

Not maintaining my network

Not having enough mentorship or guidance

Playing it safe. Not taking more chances

Not working hard

While there are some similarities between men and women, the chart below indicates which regrets are significantly different between men and women. We see that women more often than men regret: 1) not speaking up about a problem at work, 2) not negotiating a higher starting salary, and 3) working in a field where they don’t make enough money.

Significantly more men than women regret: 1) not working harder, 2) not maintaining their network, and 3) not taking more initiative.

3 Career Regrets that are significantly different based on gender

Courtesy of Zety

Clearly, women have greater regrets around not advocating for themselves or speaking up, as well as not earning sufficient money, whereas men experience more regret around not pushing themselves further and achieving a network that would support their growth.

Chances not taken

When it comes to risks not taken, there are significant differences between men and women as well. Overall, 78% wished they’d taken more career risks.

Finally, in looking at career risks that professionals have taken, there again are significantly different results by gender:

Top 10 career risks

Courtesy of Zety

This data directly echoes what I’m seeing in my career and executive coaching practice focused on the advancement of women in business. I’ve seen that many women show a deeper reluctance than men to negotiate powerfully for themselves, ask for more money and responsibility, go out on their own, pursue highly lucrative fields and join more risk-intensive ventures such as start-ups.

I’ve seen that in business today, even though many organizations state they working to develop a deeper and stronger focus on gender equality and diversity in our work cultures and supporting the advancement of women, the progress has stalled. Why is that? Because there remain powerful internal and external influences that prevent women from feeling strong, safe and comfortable to speak up powerfully, take significant career risks, compete authoritatively and advocate confidently for themselves, and to claim and achieve what they want and deserve.

Until we can address these influential factors at all the key levels – including the individual, organizational, institutional and societal levels – it will remain very difficult to impossible to reach gender parity and equality in our workplaces.

Further, this data shines a bright light on the importance for each of us to examine our career regrets as a way to understand the decisions and actions we've taken that haven't helped us reach our highest and most rewarding potential.

Address your career regrets today

To address your own career regrets, take time this week to think deeply about what you regret in your life and career. Dimensionalize it and understand as thoroughly as possible where you are today and where you want to be, and what specific actions, experiences and decisions have supported or thwarted your growth and happiness.